Split Shot
- Thread starter Theron
- Start date
Yes I know you’re not allowed to use lead core line in a lot of the salt waters in the sound. Why not just a piece of T7 between your fly line and your leader?
There are lakes in Washington that prohibit the use of lead weights the size of split shot. Tungsten bead head chironomid flies can fulfill the need to get deep.
I am probably one of the least qualified guys on here to give chironomid advice but have been reasonably successful with them. I tie all of my patterns with tungsten beads and always fish two at a time on fine tippets. They seem to get down just fine and a 10' rod protects the tippet.
Pretty much the same technique my grandfather set me up with in 1946. A gob of red worms on an O'Shaunghnessy hook under a Carlisle float at the end of a 12' cane pole. Some things you never forget and it doesn't get much simpler than chironomid fishing.
Pretty much the same technique my grandfather set me up with in 1946. A gob of red worms on an O'Shaunghnessy hook under a Carlisle float at the end of a 12' cane pole. Some things you never forget and it doesn't get much simpler than chironomid fishing.
The consensus among the indi intelligentsia is that the split shot is not needed to get to depth.
Logic would dictate that the same applies to swivels, but swivels are a highly charged emotional topic best left to mediated, controlled environments.
pnwflyfishing.com
Logic would dictate that the same applies to swivels, but swivels are a highly charged emotional topic best left to mediated, controlled environments.
Stillwater indicator watchers: What's your approach?
How do you approach fishing deep under the indi with small flies? Say you want to present two different colors of small chironomids, deeper than 10 feet or so. Or, a small chironomid and a bloodworm pattern. None of these flies sink all that quickly. How do you approach fishing deep this way...
pnwflyfishing.com
Theron
Keeper of the bees
The times I fish chironomids are usually when I am using my type 6 sinking line and I notice a hatch. I just use about 4 feet of tippet and the hemostat method to determine the depth. The line sinks pretty well but I'm never how far the fly sinks below the end of the line. I usually do a really slow retrieve after letting the line sink for a couple of minutes. I use the swivel to make changes leaders/tippets easier.
tkww
Steelhead
I believe adding split to you leader is banned in fly fishing only waters. Not that we have a lot of those. Most people tie their mids with beads to encourage sinking. But assuming your flies don't have some sort of buoyant material on them, they will sink fine--just not as quickly. Thin leader material helps and using fluorocarbon helps.
I think the biggest issue with unweighted flies is if you have a lot of motion on the line--say, a single anchor and the wind sways you back and forth and it's hard to keep a straight-down drop with your sinking line. That's where I think and unweighted fly might be a little more problematic as far as an exact depth.
I think the biggest issue with unweighted flies is if you have a lot of motion on the line--say, a single anchor and the wind sways you back and forth and it's hard to keep a straight-down drop with your sinking line. That's where I think and unweighted fly might be a little more problematic as far as an exact depth.
I find unweighted flies usually seem to fish better. In places where it's allowed, I use a drop shot rig for a lot of my nymphing. Puts the weight at the bottom of the system, which keeps your flies out of snags and lets them dance in the current like other stuff fish love to put in their mouths to "check out." In lakes, you don't have much current, but unweighted flies seem to fish more naturally when you have the weight at the bottom.
As has been mentioned, fly only lakes tend to prohibit split shot, and a lot of our local streams have the anti-snagging rule (which prohibits any weight below the lure) in effect to protect salmon and steelhead, so I can't often use that system locally. For that scenario, I like to use a tungsten bead on the lead fly to get things down, and I use an unweighted bug on a dropper above the tippet knot.
As has been mentioned, fly only lakes tend to prohibit split shot, and a lot of our local streams have the anti-snagging rule (which prohibits any weight below the lure) in effect to protect salmon and steelhead, so I can't often use that system locally. For that scenario, I like to use a tungsten bead on the lead fly to get things down, and I use an unweighted bug on a dropper above the tippet knot.
You are right, Split shot is not allowed in fly fishing only water.
The fly will only get down as deep as the distance between it and the indicator. Split shot will take it there faster but I'm thinking that won't make much difference. A few seconds maybe. Next time you're out, take a chironomid out of your box and drop it over the side. I bet it's out of sight before know it.
I have had fish bite my swivel before. I know they do because I kept getting hits one day and after several missed takes I finely figured that the day was done and a beer was called for. When I brought the line in there was no fly but there was a nice loop knot. I had dropped the #16 chironomid as I was tying the knot and like an idiot didn't notice it not there. Either that or some fish untied my fly and then tied the knot back up. I was either getting takes on the knot or the swivel.
I have had fish bite my swivel before. I know they do because I kept getting hits one day and after several missed takes I finely figured that the day was done and a beer was called for. When I brought the line in there was no fly but there was a nice loop knot. I had dropped the #16 chironomid as I was tying the knot and like an idiot didn't notice it not there. Either that or some fish untied my fly and then tied the knot back up. I was either getting takes on the knot or the swivel.
What about non-lead shot?
WDFW's app doesn't work for me or maybe I should say I don't use it enough to understand how to search for a word (is it possible?). I tried to download the regs just now on my laptop so I could do a word search and so far I haven't figured out how to even download the regulations (damn website is cluttered with popups, why?). I believe the intent of the regulation for fly fishing only waters is "no weight" attached to the leader or tippet. I recall someone asking "what about swivels" and, as usual, we fly fishers couldn't agree if swivels were weight or something else.......... I don't think you can add non-toxic weight (putty or split shot) to your gear in fly fishing only waters butI really don't know.
Ps. Other than Rocky Ford Creek, I almost never fish fly fishing only waters. At RFC, you sue don't need to add anything to get your fly to sink. ;-)
Interesting…you cannot use a small split shot, but a fly with a shank wrapped in .035 lead wire & a 4.5 tung bead would be ok?
Gets even more confusing if you bring up tippet rings!
Hahahaha, yup. (Unless lead fuse wire is banned in fly construction. I think I read where lead fuse wire is banned in some places.)
Page 15 of WDFG pamphlet describes what constitutes a fly. Beads and metal wire are OK if integral part of fly, but weights are prohibited in FF only waters.
I suppose whether a swivel or tippet ring constitutes a 'weight' depends upon what side of the bed an enforcement officer got out of that morning, or whether you're acting like a dickhead.
And don't even bring up how 'pinched down' a barb must be. I've heard so smooth a business card can be run over it without snagging. Gotta say I've been checked for a license quite a few times but never on FF only water so they weren't interested in what gear I was using.
I suppose whether a swivel or tippet ring constitutes a 'weight' depends upon what side of the bed an enforcement officer got out of that morning, or whether you're acting like a dickhead.
And don't even bring up how 'pinched down' a barb must be. I've heard so smooth a business card can be run over it without snagging. Gotta say I've been checked for a license quite a few times but never on FF only water so they weren't interested in what gear I was using.
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Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
I asked one of the biologists from WDFW once about the use of swivels in Leech Lake and he said it was no problem.
Al,
Where in the regs did you see you couldn’t use lead core line in out local saltwater?
Can’t say I’ve ever head that before.
Seems odd considering guys are using 12 lb lead downrigger balls and tossing lead buzz bombs and rotators……
SF
I think @krusty has a pretty good point about which side of the bed the enforcement officer got out of and how you are reacting to being checked. I've had my license checked maybe ten times in the past dozen years and one time my gear checked (for barbs) on the Skagit River.
A trip down memory lane (I think) - Rocky Ford used to allow people to retain one fish with the caveat that once you harvested a fish you had to quit fishing. During that "harvest allowed" time frame, the local newspapers made a big deal of Trout Lodge releasing a load of brood stock into the creek. I did go out to fish the creek that Saturday morning and found 50 or so of my closest buddies stringing up their fly poles that hadn't seen daylight in maybe 20 years. Anyway, I was fishing, released a few fish when this gentleman stepped nearby and promptly hooked a huge broodstock fish, slid her up on the beach and hauled ass up to the parking lot with the fish. A few minutes later he was back fishing - I spoke to him and said "you know, when you retain a fish here, you're required to stop fishing" - he laughed at me and said something I won't repeat. I decided I'd had enough of all these Ephrata/Moses Lake/Soap Lake fly pole guys and their ethical behavior and walked to my car. About that time a game warden came down, said hi to me and told me he'd scoped (glassed) the gentleman kill a fish and then return to the creek to fish. Made my day.
